How much will the average scores increase over the course of the season?
I would say that Most Matches in week one will end with scores lower than 40. By the end of the season, I'd imagine these will increase to around 60, so 33% or so.
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How effective will defense be?
Defense will define regionals. Week Zero Scrimmages showed us that to defend a robot you have to do nothing more than block the gap between the two towers. Good Offensive machines will need to be prepared to get their hands dirty and escort teams if they want to score.
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Will alliances use feeder bots & hangers, or will it be every team for itself?
Depends on the match, and the quality of teams. If one robot is CLEARLY better at hanging tubes than the rest, I think the rest will be feeders. The issue is that many teams will look at this as a pride issue and not want to feed another robot.
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Will tubes be fed through the slot or thrown?
Good tube throws will win matches, and regionals. Every second you can save in pickup is valuable.
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What will dominate - Grippers or Roller Claws? Rotating arms or Elevators?
It doesn't matter. If it works well, it will do well.
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Will floor loading be as important as many think?
Floor loading gives a team the capability to shorten the distance they HAVE to travel to get a tube, so yes, it will matter.
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Will the minibots define the winners, or will their influence decrease as more teams get them working?
In early regionals, having a minibot that works will be enough to do well. Most match scores will be low enough that winning the race will be enough points to win the match.
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How will minibots develop? Will they all be similar by Championship?
Yes. Once the word gets out, minibots will become more uniform, making their speed up the pole less important than deployment time.
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How would you like to see the game played?
In a way that we win, of course.
